Netflix’s latest rom-com, Sierra Burgess is a Loser, centers around high school student Sierra, who despite not being a prototypical popular girl, is a well-managed girl content with her status. However, this made the film quite confusing when Sierra catfished football player Jamey, and pretended she was someone else.
Inspired by the play Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, Sierra Burgess is a Loser retells the story of Cyrano through Sierra’s character portrayed by Shannon Purser. Just like Cyrano with Roxane, Sierra falls in love with the sweet Jamey, played by Noah Centineo but struggles to tell him the truth on who she really is and how she really feels.
Overall, the intention of the film was to represent body positivity, yet its flaws made it problematic that it forgets its own message. The film has a long list of issues that were controversial and may appear offensive to some. It justifies catfishing, disregards consent, has unnecessary comments on deaf people and the LGBT+ community, and it made cyberbullying seem forgivable. Moreover, the main issue of the film was how it used Sierra’s insecurities to justify her mistakes. Despite her shortcomings, Sierra was forgiven by both Veronica and Jamey after she wrote a heartfelt song.
In a society where women are still fighting to be understood and trying to break standards, Sierra Burgess is a Loser presented its audience the issue on body positivity but failed to show a resolution.
Film and media representation is important since it creates a way to glean information to the world. It is important for films to wider open its doors to represent diverse characters. The movie may have given the spotlight to a female lead with a large built but her character did not give justice to its intended message. The film intends to empower the youth and make them relate to Sierra, but to use her insecurities as something that brings her to her downfall, completely erases the genuine purpose of the film: to give a positive representation of all body types.
It may be time to see a body positivity film where the character accepts herself and transforms her insecurities into strength. After all, we are beyond and worth more than the shape and sizes of our bodies.
